1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of baby car seats.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, various aspects of automotive design have been dictated and/or changed for purposes of inherent safety in the automotive design. In particular, it has been recognized that the survivability and more preferably the survivability without serious injury of particular types of crashes can depend very strongly on various aspects of the automobile design, such as padded dashboards, seat belts, shoulder straps, head supports, collapsible steering columns, etc. For the same reason, the design of baby car seats has also attracted considerable attention, as babies are particularly susceptible to serious or fatal injury, even in accidents which adults would readily survive without difficulty.
Obviously if a baby is unrestrained in the event of a crash from the front or side, the baby's body will freely move until it strikes the dashboard or door region, usually at such a low elevation that switches, door handles and the like provide a serious threat to the baby's safety. Also, of course, the baby's body position will be quite random so that spinal or other injuries may be incurred even if the baby strikes a relatively smooth or padded region. Consequently, it is very highly desirable to have some form of baby car seat to provide the desired emergency restraint.
Various types of baby car seats which are retained by the use of seat belts are known in the prior art. Such car seats may take any of various forms, though usually include some form of rigid structure for the purpose. In some instances, the seat belt is used to retain the car seat, with the car seat in turn hopefully retaining the baby, while in other instances the seat belt is disposed directly to restrain the baby in the event of a crash. In either instance, there is a meaningful possibility that the baby will not be restrained as desired, or that the baby will be injured by the seat belt or other restraining device. By way of example, a seat belt directly restraining a baby may be too high, too low or too loose at the moment of impact, allowing the baby's body to slip out of the seat belt, or alternatively, to engage the baby's body at an inopportune location to cause internal injury thereto. Obviously, if only the car seat is retained by the seat belt, the ultimate protection and restraint of the baby is even more suspect.
In addition to the question of restraint in the event of a crash is the possibility of injury due to flying glass and other debris. Many car seats do not provide meaningful protection to the baby against possible injury from such flying debris, as to do so would unduly obstruct the baby's vision or an adult's ability to watch, feed or humor the baby. In any event, prior art baby car seats generally represent a fixed compromise between obstruction and protection, that compromise varying with the various car seat designs now available.